Container for medals, ribbons, military insignia and the like



May 26, 1964 w. E. cox ETAL 3,134,484

CONTAINER FOR MEDALS, RIBBONS, MILITARY INSIGNIA AND THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001:. 16, 1961 INVENTORS William E. Cox Ross D. Alexander y 25, 1954 w. E. cox ETAL 3,134,484

CONTAINER FOR MEDALS, RIBBONS, MILITARY INSIGNIA AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 16, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 N INVENTORS Cb William E. Cox BY Ross 0. Alexander LL United States Patent Filed on. 16, 1961, S81. No. 145,379

1 Claim. c1. 206-4514 The present invention relates to containers and aims to provide a container in which medals, ribbons, military insignia and like articles may be kept when not in use.

It is an object of our invention, therefore, to provide a container wherein medals, ribbons, military insignia and like articles of difierent shapes'and sizes may conveniently be stored.

More particularly it is an object of our invention to provide a container, of the type referred to, wherein medals, ribbons, military insignia and like articles of different sizes and conformation may conveniently be stored in a minimum of space and in such a manner that they may readily be viewed from the outside.

Still another object of our invention is to provide a container of the type referred to, wherein medals, ribbons and military insignia may be suspended in their proper positions irrespective of whether their attachment devices are pins or safety clasps.

In this connection it is a particular object of our invention to provide a container of the type referred to, wherein clusters of medals secured to a common mounting bar may dependably be suspended for storage and display without the use of clasps or pins.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of a container embodying our invention, with its cover in partially open position;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation of the rear wall of the container (with the cover omitted);

FIGURE 3 is a cross section taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrows associated with said line; and

FIGURE 4 is a central section through the container taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrows associated with said line.

The container illustrated in the accompanying drawings comprises a rear wall which may be formed by a stiff sheet of a suitable plastic material. Said sheet may have rounded top corners and rectangular bottom corners as shown at 12 and 14, respectively, in FIGURE 2 and along its total edge it is provided with a forwardly directed flange 16 (FIGURE 1). Secured to the upper half of the rear wall 19 by a suitable adhesive, or by heat sealing, is a rectangular pad 18 of a plastic sponge material of such width as to leave marginal areas 20a and 29b at either side between its end surfaces and the Vertical portions of flange 16.

The pad 18 serves for holding medals, ribbons and insignia that have attachment devices of the straight pin or spike type as shown at 24 in FIGURE 4. In practical use these pins or spikes are simply pushed into the front surface of the pad 18 for support and remain detachably embedded therein. FIGURE 2 illustrates a pair of ribbon bars 26, a name shield 28 and officers bars 30 secured to the pad 18 in this manner. We have found that the dependability of the pad 18 in holding articles provided with the spike type of attachment device, may be materially increased by constructing the pad 18 of a rear layer 32 of a relatively soft sponge material and of substantial thickness and a thin front layer 34 of a relatively hard sponge material as best shown in FIGURE 4. A

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similar effect may be obtained by subjecting the front surface of a pad 18 of a suitable plastic foam material to a heat treatment which hardens the outermost layer of the pad. Alternatively, a sheet of fabric may be glued to the front surface of the pad. As a third alternative, a liquid plastic may be sprayed into the front surface of the pad and allowed to solidify thereon.

The pad 18 is preferably asymmetrically located with respect to the vertical center axis 44 of the container so that the marginal spaces 2th: and 20b at either side thereof are of distinctly different horizontal width as best shown in FIGURE 2; and arranged in said spaces are columns of superposed supports in the form of lips 36a and 36!), respectively (FIGURE 3), which are of different horizontal width corresponding to the difference in width between the marginal spaces 20a and 29b (FIGURES 1 and 2). In the preferred embodiment of theinvention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, these lips are punched from and appropriately bent out of the plane of two strips 38a and 381), respectively, of plastic material which are of different horizontal width and which are glued, or heat sealed to, the rear sheet 10 in the marginal spaces 20a and 26b at either side of the pad 18 and extend from the top to almost the bottom of the container.

The lips 36a and 36b serve tosupport medals and insignia provided with attachment means of the safety clasp type and jewelry items, such as cuff links and ear rings as shown at 40 in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, and the reason for providing lips of different horizontal width at either side of the pad 16 is to accommodate in the container of our invention articles of different size with a minimum waste of space.

Suitably supported from the rear wall 10 of the container in the area below the pad 18 and intermediately of the columns of strips 38a and 385 are several longitudinally extending bars 42 of L-shaped contour (FIG- URE 4) which are spaced vertically from each otherand and whose upper edges are serrated as shown at 44in FIGURES 1 and 2.

The serrated bars 42 serve to support clusters of juxtaposed medals that are secured in the conventional manner to a common strip of cardboard, plastic or leather. In practice this stirp is usually received in a metal channel provided with spikes or pins by means of which it may be secured to servicemans tunic. Such clusters of medals are too heavy to be securely held in position by sticking the pins of the tracks into the pad 18. It is preferable, therefore, to remove the spiked channel and secure it to the pad 18 by itself, as shown at 46 in FIGURES 2 and 4. The cluster of medals is then suspended in the container by folding the ribbons 48 of the medals 50 over the serrated edges 44 of one of the bars 42 so that the connecting strip 52 of said ribbons (FIGURE 4) lies in the pocket formed between the bar 42 and the rear wall 10 of the container, while the remaining parts of the ribbons are allowed to hang downwardly over the bar 42 under the weight of the medals attached to their lower ends, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 4. When the ribbons are folded over the upper edges of a bar 42 in this manner and the teeth formed by the serrations 44 dig into their rear surfaces, they remain safely engaged over said bars as shown in FIGURES 2 and 4.

The ends of the pockets 54 formed between the rear wall 19 of the container and the bars 42 may suitably be closed, as shown at 56 in FIGURE 1, so that said pockets may be employed to hold stars, tie clasps, clip-on ear rings, and other small jewelry articles when not in use to support medal clusters.

Near the bottom of the side edges and of the rear wall 10 and along the bottom edge thereof, the flange 16 is somewhat extended beyond its ordinary size, and the (B space defined by the extended flange portions is closed by a front wall portion 62, as best shown in FIGURES 1 and 4 to form a pocket 6% at the bottom of the container in which cufi links, collar buttons, collar stays and other small items Without special attachment means may be stored.

The lid or cover of the described container is formed by a tongue-shaped extension 64 of the above mentioned front wall portion 62 (FIGURES l and 4). Said extension is of a size and conformation corresponding to the edges of the tongue '64 are provided with a rearwardly directed flange 66 similar to the-forwardly directed flange V 16 of rear wall It); and suitably secured to the edges of said flanges 66 and 16-are the cooperating components 68 and 70, respectively, of a slide fastening device whose slide is shown at 72 in FIGURES l and 4;

It remains to point out that the rear Wall 19 of the container may be provided at its upper end with an apertured lug 74 so that the whole container may be suspended from a hook, if desired.

The container of our invention provides means of suspending medals and insignia of different sizes and conformation and equipped with different types of attachment devices in their proper condition, Within a minimum of space. When suspended in the container they may read ily be viewed from the outside through the cover 64 of the container when the container'is closed. The container of our invention is of simple and inexpensive construction yet pleasing in appearance. alternatively be used to suspend medal clusters or provide space for shirt buttons, cuff links and like articles of small size that do not have any fastening devices of their own. 7 V

- While we have explained our invention with the aid of a particular embodiment thereof, itwill be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific constructional details shown and described which may be-departed Its pockets 54 may A from without departing from the scope and'spirit of'th invention.

We claim:

A container for suspending therein for storage and display medals, military insignia and likearticles of different sizes and shapes and having different types of attachment devices, comprising a rear wall formed by a sheet of a stifi plastic material and a detachable front wall of a transparent flexible plastic material, a pad of a plastic sponge material secured to a center area of said rear wall and having a frontal layer of a harder material than its remaining portion for'attachment thereto of articles having spike type attachment devices, said pad being asymmetrically located with respect to the center line of said rear wall to leave marginal areas of different width at its opposite sides, vertically extending strips of plastic material extending along and secured to said marginal areas, said strips having columns of superposed lips of different width punched from and bent out of their planes to provide supports of different sizes for differently sized articles having attachment devices of the safety clasp type, and a plurality of horizontally disposed elongated bars supported from said rear Wall below said pad in vertically spaced relation to each other and in spaced parallel relation to said rear wall, saidtbars having serrated top edges to engage the ribbons of clusters of medals secured to a common mounting strip when said ribbons are folded over said edges with the mounting strips lodged in the space ,be-

tween said bars and said rear wall. 9

References Cited in the file of this patent 2 UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,214,282 Day 7 Jan. 30, 1917 2,122,738 1 Drummond et al. July 5, 1938 2,683,070 Upchurch July '6, 1954 2,797,806 Davis -July 2, 1957 2,834,129 Kirkbridge May 13, 1958 2,847,773 Herrick Aug. 19, 8,

FOREIGN PATENTS 

